Your app size will determine the fate of your downloads massively. Why?
Why our App size matters and how it will determine the fate of its downloads.
Both iOS and Android stores place different, but important restrictions on the size of applications which can be downloaded on a cellular network.
In this article we will highlight why application sizes matter, and their impact on downloads on the respective application store!
- Data usage
- Storage usage
- Download time
- Application bloat
- App Store ratings
- Data usage
Both iOS and Android stores have restrictions on the size of the application to be downloaded. You, and your app, will lose customers who don’t get the instant gratification by downloading the app quickly. This is really important. Although cellular data plans have improved, to the point where users needn’t really worry about an app’s size in terms of data limits per se, higher app sizes always have a negative effect in the minds of the users.
An interesting study done by Segment indicated that Application downloads decreased by about 66% with increase in application size for approximately every 100 MB.
2. Storage usage :
The majority of smartphones today come with standard storage sizes of 16GB and more but with increased storage, OS sizes have also increased with effective storage available to a user being minimal. While some operating systems — and handsets — afford you the possibility to increase your physical storage, most of them still fall short in terms of the bloat on basic OS’s.
Social applications end up taking a lot of space as well, as do communication ones. These are what most people use for not only day-to-day communication but also work and professional commitments, making them necessities.
Any application which increases native storage space on the phone has usually met with unfavorable reviews. These apps slow down overall phone performance, and for those without the liberty to extend storage, they are likely to do away with these apps unless they fall under the category of an absolute necessity — which most do not.
3. Download Time
People usually download an application based on their need, and usually the time to satisfy the need is instantaneous. When an application download time exceeds a particular span of time, people usually get disinterested and this results in a less than favorable end user experience. Of course, this is directly correlated both to the size of your application and to the speed of your data connection, but also has extraneous factors like the app’s own bloat to consider. So you want to pare down the ‘add-ons’ in your app to ensure that you, from your developer end, minimize download time to as much an extent as is possible.
4. Application bloat :
In a study done by Segment again, in the majority of Applications, size bloat usually happens due to images, videos and Multiple SDK kits. Here is where you — or your developer(s) need to take a call on whether a high-definition introductory video, for one example, is really necessary on the application.
Multiple updates also increase the volume of bloat on the application, an increased number of SDK’s also affect application performance.
An audit of what comprises the size on the application is usually advised, and will help in maintaining the application size overall, therefore affording the user a more streamlined experience, consequently leading to better reviews — and to a higher rating on the app store — ultimately meaning your app will also rank higher and be more visible.
Which brings us to…
5. App store ratings :
App store ratings have an extremely important say in your application being downloaded.
Lower store ratings have a detrimental effect on your downloads. All the factors that have been mentioned just now contribute to your app store ratings, whether that direction is positive or negative — and that is something you and your team of developers will want to be careful about.
It costs a lot of effort — and yes, money, to acquire a customer and getting him or her on to the app download page, and downloading the app. Think of something as simple as making a concurrent app for two Operating Systems — unless of course you choose to focus on one.
Making sure that the customer converts is imperative and all these above points contribute
to the customer downloading the application — and therefore creating a potential customer for you.
For more information, head on over to grappus.com!